Over 200 KZN qualified doctors and nurses handed over memorandum to health dept

JOHANNESBURG - More than 200 qualified doctors and nurses in KwaZulu-Natal handed over a memorandum to the Department of Health on Monday seeking placement at public facilities.

This comes at a time when South Africa is facing a critical shortage of qualified doctors at healthcare public facilities.

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Trade union, the Public Association of South Africa (PSA), facilitated the handing over of a memorandum by more than 200 unemployed doctors and nurses to Department of Health officials on Monday in KwaZulu-Natal’s capital of Pietermaritzburg.

"We are calling on the department to proper plan for the placement of doctors and nurses, because we believe that if they are not improving their human resource planning, they will not be able to implement the National Health Insurance" said PSA provincial manager Mlungisi Ndlovu.

Doctor Bonga Gwala said government needed to act fast.

"The ratio of doctor to patient in the country is quite high as opposed to what the World Health Organization requires. So, if our colleagues are coming to say they are ready for employment and government is not doing anything, it deteriorates the image of the public sector."

According to the Department of Health, there is less than one doctor per 1,000 patients in the country.